By recognising that the question of NATO enlargement is at the centre of this war, we understand why U.S. weaponry will not end this war. Only diplomatic efforts can do that. George Orwell wrote in 1984 that “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Governments work relentlessly to distort public Continue reading »
Defence and Security
With more than 4.5m killed and millions displaced, American revenge for 9/11 attacks puts Ukraine in the shade for 21st century slaughter. What’s the deadliest conflict of the 21st century so far? No, it’s not the Ukraine war, not by a long shot. According to a new study by the Costs of War Project at the Watson Continue reading »
One of the stranger aspects of the current war, at least for this observer, is the sight of Ukrainian military commanders telling BBC cameras in perfect Russian of their anti-Moscow plans. They have yet to learn to speak Ukrainian. Moscow is supposed to be attacking Ukraine out of concern it will bring NATO to Russia’s Continue reading »
“Speak softly and carry a big stick.” The pithy words spoken by US President Theodore Roosevelt in 1901 has been said to be his ideal policy for the US. But in recent years, the “big stick” diplomacy has proven to be too simplistic for the world they used to dominate. The aphorism served the US well Continue reading »
To surmount the debt crisis, America needs to stop feeding the Military-Industrial Complex, the most powerful lobby in Washington. In the year 2000, the U.S. government debt was $3.5 trillion, equal to 35% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By 2022, the debt was $24 trillion, equal to 95% of GDP. The U.S. debt is Continue reading »
America feels above any need to explain its calamitous geostrategic actions. Of course, it has no obligation to. But its character is revealed as being comfortable with threat fabrication, on a grand scale. It is practised at making war on false premise. And appears energised by it, not repentant. Deception, including of allies, is integral Continue reading »
In Ukraine, grim visions of a new age of nuclear warfare are the natural counterpart of western hardliners’ march of folly towards the nuclear brink. Thankfully, there is an alternative, one that has been possible since the very beginning of the conflict and now has growing support among Western publics. The Harvard-based website, Russia Matters, Continue reading »
When US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met face-to-face with Mr Antony Blinken’s China counterpart Mr Wang Yi for eight hours in Vienna on May 10-11, a meeting both sides described as “constructive”, where was America’s top diplomat, Mr Blinken? The Sullivan-Wang meeting not only makes US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s long-awaited China visit a Continue reading »
The government has a Bill before parliament which, if passed, would exempt the nuclear power plants on nuclear-propelled submarines from the requirement of two other Acts: the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The Bill is called the Defence Legislation Amendment (Naval Nuclear Propulsion) Continue reading »
In March 2023, the Australian Defence Department confirmed the arrival of an F/A18G Growler aircraft to replace a similar aircraft which was destroyed in January 2018 while on a training exercise. It had flown less than 120 hours. The aircraft was powered by two General Electric F414-GE-400 turbofan engines. According to the Royal Australian Air Continue reading »